I'm black and grew up on a council estate in London, attended a rough comprehensive school (only half the pupils in my year left with five A-C grades at GCSE) and attended a "ghetto" college (where many of the students were in gangs) but managed to study at a Russell Group university and hope to study for a Masters at Oxford or Cambridge and become an architect.

It's well-known that education is an important aspect of many black households (particularly African families) hence many children of African backgrounds achieve great grades at GCSE and A-Level. However, despite the intelligence of many black (African) people, a significant number they simply don't know how to conduct themselves in public. For instance, the vast majority of black people (particularly males) feel the need to speak in MLE (Multicultural London English) also known as ghetto talk/street talk. The ghetto dialect most black youngsters have adopted nowadays (e.g. fam, blud, bruv, mandem, allow it, safe, ya get me etc, etc) just makes me cringe as I feel it just makes them sound unintelligent and like a bad Ali-G impersonator! I'll honestly cry if my future children speak in this manner.
Many intelligent, educated black people who speak in a professional dialect experience difficulty in obtaining a reputable job so speaking in that awful ghetto dialect and the "roadman" behaviour it's associated with will only hinder a black person's chances of gaining a top graduate job or promotion. In order to pass the interview and obtain a top graduate job, applicants need a certain 'polish' and 'finesse' which a significant number of black people simply don't possess.

It really pains me to write this post but I felt these points needed to be made in relation to this situation/topic of the thread.

I look forward to reading the comments regarding this important issue.

Kathleen Henehan, a policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The rising share of people going to university is a well-known British success story of recent decades. The progress made by black and ethnic minority groups is astounding, with the share of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi graduates trebling in less than 20 years.

This is the real world, the hard facts. In their own words, my pick of key ones.

“But despite this success, graduates from a black and ethnic minority background still face significant (un?) employment and pay penalties in the workforce. These labour market disadvantages are a big living standards concern and mean we risk failing to make the most of the investment made in their education.”

This is the b******s made up by people wanting to make you feel, despite the hard facts, that you are still the victim of some form of -ism and that you need help with it. They don't want you to celebrate the positives, they make up a bogus problem for you by using carefully planted keywords like above because they make a living out of it. Were I black and I'd resent it big time.

Sadiq Khan says that "We need to ensure that every young person has a role model they can look up to. It’s so important to promote the successful figures from Britain’s BAME communities. We need to create a sense of optimism, aspiration and hope.”.

But is it necessary for a role model to be from the same background as you? As a Black (Man?), do you feel that you can see non-black people as role models?

Also:

What constitutes the "Minority Ethnic" part of BAME? Do East Asians and white ethnic minorities count?

I'm not an ''Uncle Tom'' at all. If you read my post, you'd noticed I said that many black people (particularly Africans) are intelligent. If I was an ''Uncle Tom'' I would not acknowledge this at all. Plus, my current girlfriend and previous girlfriends are black. My political views are left of centre and I've visited my home country in Africa (i.e. the birthplace of my parents several times).

I'm merely highlight that the job prospects of many black people are held back by the manner in which they conduct themselves in public/in the workplace.

(Original post by John_E123456)
I'm merely highlight that the job prospects of many black people are held back by the manner in which they conduct themselves in public/in the workplace.

Fair play to you by looking for the real causes but we can say the same about whites or anybody else, among them there is a class who underperform in employment outcomes. Who holds them all back, other than themselves from a perspective of personal responsibility.

(Original post by John_E123456)
I knew someone would accuse me of this when I posted this thread!

I'm not an ''Uncle Tom'' at all. If you read my post, you'd noticed I said that many black people (particularly Africans) are intelligent. If I was an ''Uncle Tom'' I would not acknowledge this at all. Plus, my current girlfriend and previous girlfriends are black. My political views are left of centre and I've visited my home country in Africa (i.e. the birthplace of my parents several times).

I'm merely highlight that the job prospects of many black people are held back by the manner in which they conduct themselves in public/in the workplace.

You will find a lot of young white British people conduct themselves in public and the workplace in simpler manner. Your also find there job prospects education levels are ever worst than black British people from the same area.

If I was employing someone I would choose a person who respectful, polite, hard working does not use bad language in the workplace and is able to do the job. What ever background their from.